The Grass Fed Bone Broth Benefits Are Overstated

Bone broth has been quite trendy in the alternative medicine circles. If you listen to the “experts,” you may come to the conclusion that it can heal everything from depression to diphtheria. But I am going to say it, the benefits are overstated.

Don’t get me wrong, I think there are some great things going on with bone broth. It is cheap and easy to incorporate into your eating plan. However, it isn’t the miracle superfood that Dr. Kellyanne or Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride tout.

Let’s examine the diets and analyze the factors that may be working or not working.

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci’s Bone Broth Diet

Dr. Kellyann has a whole line of supplements and foods surrounding the idea that bone broth will heal just about anything. Her diet focuses in on having 1-2 cups of bone broth per day. She also recommends intermittent fasting two times per week.

She claims that you will heal within 21 days on this diet. Her claims center around the idea that cells have a 21-day life cycle and you’ll have a whole new gut lining in 21 days. Therefore, you should be healed of your autoimmune conditions or at least see some improvement in three weeks.

I did her bone broth experiment for 21 days and can’t say that my psoriasis was much better at all. It was still there. I neglected to do her intermittent fasting though. I’m not a fan of that, but I did omit common allergens from my diet like wheat, dairy, sugar, nuts and nightshades.

There may have been a tiny bit of improvement, but sometimes I would see improvement when I didn’t do anything, so I’m questioning that result.

The GAPS Diet and Bone Broth

The GAPS diet is the brain child of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. She claims to have healed her son from autism with it. It centers around the principles of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and incorporates a ton of bone broth.

One of the reasons that she utilizes so much bone broth is that it is unlikely to trigger many autoimmune reactions. It is an animal product and water essentially.

The problem that I find with the GAPS diet is the recommended amount of time required to be on it. She recommends 2 years to heal from a condition. While many people see results within a few weeks or months, that wasn’t the case with me.

It is highly discouraging to be making bone broth and eliminating your favorite foods and not see any improvement in your autoimmune condition. Even worse, when I tried doing the extreme introductory diet, I actually had a seizure. I believe that any extreme diet will trigger a seizure for me now. I have tested it out and that seems to be the case.

The GAPS diet is suppose to heal people from seizures and neurological issues, but I think the stress of quick detoxification that comes with the introductory diet for me is just a seizure trigger that I need to avoid.

Why does her diet work?

Her diet is a long term elimination diet. If you can stick with it for 2 years, you are likely to see improvement. You will eliminate all the common toxins in the beginning and gradually add back in foods and test which ones are okay for you.

Eliminating toxins and beginning to eat nutrient-dense foods will help any body function properly.

Bone broth is the base of the diet because it is considered a “safe” food. It also has a lot of collagen in it, which is supposed to promote healing.

What is Bone Broth Missing?

Bone broth does contain protein and collagen. However, it doesn’t have the wealth of vitamins that organ meat, such as beef liver has. You won’t get a lot of vitamin E, K, D, A and B from bone broth. These fat soluble vitamins are the foundation of our health. They are essential nutrients for every body.

The carnivore dieters will emphasize that there are more nutrients in the organ meats. They downplay the importance of collagen and don’t seem to think that bone broth is all that important unless you like it.

Many carnivore dieters do not include bone broth in their diets and have seen their chronic conditions improve with only meat.

What is in Bone Broth?

Bone broth contains essential amino acids such as arginine, glutamine and cystine. These have shown to boost immunity and reduce inflammation. L-gultamine has been known to specifically reduce gut inflammation, which is why it is so important to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride’s Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet.

Bone broth does contain some bone-forming minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin D, potassium, zinc, manganese, copper, boron, and iron. Consistently drinking bone broth can strengthen your bones and teeth.

Bone broth can help to hydrate your body. It is mostly water, but it also has electrolytes (minerals) and carbohydrates. It has been shown that liquids with electrolytes can rehydrate your body better than water alone.

My Conclusion

Bone broth is a great addition to your diet, but don’t expect too much from it. The majority of your healing will come from eliminating unhealthy processed foods and incorporating nutrient dense foods, such as organ meats.

As the weather gets cooler, bone broth rich soups are great for preventing colds or helping you heal quickly from them. However, I wouldn’t expect it to heal a long term illness within a few weeks.

Sometimes when we expect too much from a “superfood” it is easy to get discouraged and completely negate everything that we have heard about it.

It should be noted that if you are eating bone broth and still consuming toxic foods, it is likely that you won’t notice any improvement in your health. Half the reason that these diets work is due to other factors like intermittent fasting and eliminating problematic foods.

8 thoughts on “The Grass Fed Bone Broth Benefits Are Overstated”

  1. Health foods of all sorts are fads that come and go and you have correctly
    outed this one.
    As you point out a balanced diet and healthy living are the best ways to improve your well being>
    It is important in your review that you do also say that fasting potentially has some benefits as well.

    A good review.

    Peter H

  2. This was a great overview of The Grass Fed Bone Broth Diet. You hit the nail on the head though because removing unhealthy processed foods is where the healing really comes from. Bone broth is good for you, but I believe that eating normal foods is the best way to get the benefits of eating healthy. A lot of people would probably feel better if they stuck to healthy eating for the long-term; Like veggies, fruits, oats, seeds and all that other good stuff.

  3. My mum started taking the bone broth a few months ago and she wasn’t so impressed with the results she got. It was very hyped I guess and so she out in so much faith. Well, seeing that you say its long term and then adding two years, some people do not have that much patience when they use organic or inorganic wellness products. This is a good post though and I’m happy you added all the nutritional content of the bone broth. I could use it ti help my bone issues since its rich in calcium. Great post here!

  4. Great article I want to understand what Bone broth is and wether you buy the ingredient or it’s already made broth and the Gaps diet looks like something one can try.

    Though I am a fan of following the Italian diet which I find simple and makes sense..Eat all the food you love but in small quantities and Italian live long by just following that.

    I would love to test both the Bone Broth and the Gaps and see how they work for me once I fully understand what these are? Great post Thanks 

  5. I think you made a valid point here. Being healthy is about adopting a healthy overall diet. Bones broth is online one drop in the ocean, yes it has health benefit but taking it alone and continue eating unhealthy food will not create any miracle.

    But when you adopt a healthy diet, where you eat more fibers from fruits and greens. When you eat organic food and drink a lot of water, you will see that your health will improve daily.

    Thanks for sharing

  6. Hi,

    Very informative article about bone broth. Whoever is in diets they have relied on a supplement. And If they get a good supplement with no major side-effect then It will be great. I have heard before about Bone Broth benefit before but I was not sure about some If this is due. But after reading this review I have cleared about that. One question I need to know, do we need to ask health practitioner before taking this supplement?

  7. Thanks for your article on grass-fed bone broth therapy as it really opened my eyes to the advantages and disadvantages that it offers. I have seen so many of these type of diets out there that generally do not live up to the hype, and it seems that this is another one.

    Most certainly there are some concepts behind the logic of adding it to your diet but I personally would not follow that suggested diet strictly as I am concerned with getting more antioxidants into my system to fight the skin cancer that I have. This diet would not address this to the degree that I need.

    The intermittent fasting is an interesting concept that the Doctor is recommending, and there are a lot of dieticians that I have worked with that agree with using this as a means to detoxifying your body but I know that is not for everyone either. If you have a strenuous job you need the calories and nutrients on a more regular basis to maintain your health.

    I am sorry that the use of this diet did not help you with your psoriasis issue. There are a lot of recommendations out there, and I would try a few more that do not involve and pharma solutions (i.e. natural methods), as it seems too many doctors are quick to prescribe pills or ointments, etc. over observing the diet and lifestyle as causes. 

  8. I have some experience with Bone Broth, though not as much as you. I saw no lasting benefit other than it’s a great comfort food on a winter day. Eliminating toxins has been teh most beneficial for me. Your topic as clear and clarifying and gets one through the hype associated with the claims made by Dr. Kellyann Petrucci. I’m highly nterested in natural health and your article succeeds as an honest review. Thanks.

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